Watch Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things For Free

Purely Joyful Movie!

Pretty Good

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (1972)** 1/2 (out of 4) Absolutely bonkers film from Bob Clark has a group of people being led into a cemetery where their leader Alan (Alan Ormsby) plans to use black magic to bring to life a corpse he has dug up. Soon the kids begin to have a little party and before they know it they're under attack by the living dead.This film deserves to go down in history for having one of the greatest titles ever to grace a movie. I mean, who couldn't read the title and not either be amused or never forget that you read it? As for the film itself, it's really a mixed bag because it's really not all that good but at the same time it's just so crazy, so weird and so..... I don't know. So silly that you can't help but be entertained by it.What's so strange about the movie is that for the first hour there's really not much that happens. There aren't any zombie attacks or anything else as the people pretty much talk about silly things and do weird black magic rituals. Director Clark certainly builds up a strange atmosphere during this hour but considering this is a horror movie it's pretty gutsy not to have any horror moments. Once we get to the zombie attacks they certainly aren't what you'd call scary but at the same time you can't help but have a good time with them.Performances are pretty decent considering this was a $50,000 movie. Ormsby is certainly a character here and you can't help but be entertained by him. The gore and zombie make-up effects aren't the greatest but they work. Orville, the zombie that they dig up, is also quite memorable. CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS isn't really a complete success and I must admit that I probably won't ever watch it again but at the same time I can respect Clark and company with what they made.

I remember seeing CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS years and years ago, back when zombie films were few and far between (unlike today, where the opposite is true). It came across as an amateurish, oddball remake of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, done as a comedy horror with some very poor acting. So how would it hold up today?Well, the truth is that the film does hold some quirky charm, mainly due to the year it was made and the outrageous fashions on display. It's easy to forget that this was made by Bob Clark just prior to BLACK Christmas, so at least it set him up to make at one classic horror movie. The truth is that CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS is only semi-successful at best, as the entire first hour is pretty much a waste of time. It consists of various goofballs wandering around a cheap-looking cemetery, digging up a corpse and spouting some inane dialogue.Things do change for the admittedly scary climax, which is a brief re-run of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD as the reanimated dead gang up on a remote house to chow down on those within. It's fair to say that Alan Ormsby's unforgettable anti-hero is more of a villain than the undead themselves; what a guy, what a performance, it's not one you'll easily forget! If you can get past the poor make-up, Halloween costume-style look of the effects and the non-existent acting, you might just find a quirky little movie with some things to recommend it.

I'd like to start by acknowledging how much I dig old school schlock, cult classics, obscure gems, the bizarre, and of course, just all around bad movies. Even bad movie lovers have their limits. One thing that I've never been able to tolerate is the dull, the boring and most of all the overrated. Which brings me to this criminally overrated, Florida bore-fest. A film that seemingly everyone likes. A film that is apparently considered by many to be "alot of fun", as well as "genuinely creepy". A film of which I've never heard an unkind word spoken. This needs to change.To me, Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things, this film that seemingly everyone just adores, is nothing but 90 minutes of a bunch of wannabe hippie actors playing wannabe hippie actors making smug comments to each other, and spouting lame, pseudo-witty one-liners, while hanging out in a burial ground at some Island, and trying in vain to frighten each other. Although, not really hanging out so much as attempting to raise the dead with their "powers". Yep, hippies with a purpose. The lucky corpse, that may get a second chance at life (or something similar) is a deceased fellow named Orville. The head hippie guy (Alan Ormsby) tries, and tries, and tries to coax Satan into giving him a hand, with his some stupid voodoo ritual, or black magic, or whatever the hell. Of course these idiots underestimate the black arts, as well as the man downstairs, and you guessed it... All hell breaks loose. So, yeah. the actual storyline finally starts rolling, and contrary to what absolutely everyone else says, it ain't that groundbreaking, and it ain't "one of the greatest zombie flicks of the 70's. I guess it's semi-atmospheric, and I have seen worse locations, but What an annoying movie... It's just dumb. Now, I'm hearing that there's gonna be a remake some time in the near future. If this matters to you, then that surely makes one of us. If it's really quality 70's schlock, which actually deserves its reputation, that you're after, my advice to you would be to go for something more like Blood Freak, or The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are here! And, so, I've pretty much accepted the fact that you'll most likely consider my not-so-well-thought-out review to be completely worthless, as you'll most likely adore this garbage, just like everyone else, proving once again that I am truly alone in my disgust and total lack of interest in Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things. Well, whatever. That title still doesn't make any sense. 2/10

The first time I saw this I was 13 and it aired on channel 9 around 11:30 PM on a school night.It freaked me out! A small time acting crew raises hell on an island then awakens the dead.Alan Ormsby is the lead dude who takes a liking to Orville a corpse.Its creeping and funny with soft gore{standard PG} Its perfect for Halloween viewing due to its mere 70,000 budget.Its my favorite next to Night of the Living Dead and Dawn Of the Dead.Who would of thought that Bob Clark after directing this would go on to direct Porkies.If you are in the mood for a good under rated movie this is it.Alan Ormsby went on to write Cat People which I actually thought it was pretty good.Not as good as the original but hey what is better..right?